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map out our gun positions.”
    “We’ll give that to Amy’s group,” stated Kate. “Prioritized ahead of the sandbags. Now the hard part…”
    “The hard part?” said everyone in near unison.
    “Waking seven exhausted teenagers at 6:30 in the morning and convincing them to work for the rest of the day.”
    “No convincing necessary. They work or they don’t get fed. Right?” Linda said with a smirk.
    “Sounds good to me,” said Alex’s mom. “I’ll fix up pancakes and bacon. Fill them up with a good meal before we break the bad news. Slackers eat cold oatmeal moving forward.”
    “Hard core! I like it,” said Samantha. “Need any help in the kitchen?”
    “I’ll take all the help I can get. The quicker we whip this up the better,” said Amy.
    “I can crisp bacon perfectly—on the grill. Meat handling is my specialty,” said Linda.
    Samantha spit her coffee onto the table, immediately swiping her napkin.
    “That’s not something you want to advertise too loudly,” said Kate, stifling a laugh.
    “Good heavens,” mumbled Amy, blushing.
    “This is why I pretend to be deaf around women,” said Tim. “The bacon’s in the basement freezer.”
     

Chapter 8
    EVENT +52:01
    Limerick, Maine
    Eli Russell marched up the steps of the two-story red brick building and stopped at the entrance door held open by his deputy commander.
    “The building is secure. We have one hundred and forty-three residents packed into the recreation hall. Standing room only,” said Kevin McCulver.
    “Secure the door and post a guard. Nobody gets in or out without my say-so. We have to be on our toes,” said Eli, entering Limerick’s “Brick Town Hall.”
    No longer housing Limerick’s municipal offices, the historical Brick Town Hall building had been recently renovated to house the town’s library and generate revenue by renting the large first-floor hall for private functions. The recreation hall served as the largest public meeting place within Limerick, aside from the elementary school a few miles to the east on the Newfield border. Eli had chosen the historical building for his debut public appearance because it was a familiar landmark located in the heart of town.
    He strode into the room and grasped the podium, pushing aside the useless microphone.
    “Citizens of Limerick. Please. I’ll keep this brief,” he bellowed.
    The din of conversation diminished, but didn’t stop.
    “Please. I don’t want to take up any more time than necessary! We all have enough going on at home,” he said, smiling widely at the crowd, which finally fell silent. “I want to thank Selectman Keithman for arranging this meeting and getting the word out on short notice. My name is Eli Russell. Some of you know me pretty well—I’m a Waterboro native. Several years ago, I started the Maine Liberty Militia. Our ranks are filled with hardworking, patriotic folks just like yourselves from all over York County. Gary Flannery is one of our original members,” he said, motioning for a thin man dressed in a MultiCam uniform to step forward from behind him.
    “His family has lived in Limerick for nearly a century, and you’ve been eating his family’s pizza for three decades, for better or worse,” he said, slapping Gary playfully on the shoulder.
    The tension in the room eased with the joke, setting the stage for Eli’s main event.
    “Obviously, I didn’t come here to tell jokes. These are uncertain, frightening times for all of us, but one thing is certain: the hardest days lie ahead. Life as we’ve known it has come to an abrupt end and is unlikely to ever return to what most of you consider normal. This isn’t an isolated incident. The entire nation has been plunged into darkness. This has been confirmed by ham radio broadcasts.”
    The crowd murmured in response to his statement.
    “Trust me when I say that the situation out there will only get worse. The police and National Guard are overwhelmed at the border, which is